All the Formal Stuff

There are a few different ways to manage the qual requirements. You need to pass both Part A and Part B of the qual; for each part, you can either take that part's exam and pass, or get at least a B in both classes for each part. The majority of the incoming class of 2021 took all four of the classes. Depending on your background, it might make sense to take some classes and not others.

Example cases: 

1 (most common): Student takes all four classes (610, 612 in the fall and 611 and 613 in the spring) 

2 (entering with masters): Study and take both qualifier exams when entering in the fall and take none of the intro four courses

3 (hybrid): Take the Part A in the fall and if you pass sign up for no classes but if not sign up for the fall classes.

Since the new system started in Fall 2021, both the classes and the new qualifier have not reached their equilibrium forms. 

It is important to keep in mind that the best way to manage the qual requirements will be different for everyone. Talk to your advisor or reach out to the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies, Tom Cohen, for more advice! 

How do you find a PhD advisor? Carefully.

• Find who you're interested in working with.

  • You can find a list of the current physics faculty on the department website. This is a good spot to start looking at possible research options

  • Institute pages may have additional PIs at NIST, NASA, NRL, or other labs which are not full physics faculty (e.g. JQI fellows)

• Email interesting professors. Professors are willing to and interested in talking with new students. Sometimes professors are able to find ways to fund really motivated students.

  • Many professors' websites are outdated, by as much as several years, so it's really important to talk to the professors to get a sense of the most recent work.

  • You can also look at recent papers from PIs

• Additionally, the department sends advertisements of groups looking for students. These are great opportunities if they are interesting groups.

• Talk to current students and postdocs!

• It's fine to switch advisors. A slight delay on your Ph.D. is worth 5 years of your happiness and mental health

Is it possible to switch your PhD advisor? It can be, but there are lots of things to consider, and you have to tread a bit carefully.

There are many reasons that one might want to switch advisors. Some include:

• You do not find the research in the group as interesting as you thought.

• You are currently in a theoretical (experimental) group, and you have decided that you would rather do experiment (theory).

• You do not work well with your advisor or the other graduate students in the lab.

• You are doing a summer/semester-long trial and your advisor is unsure if they can/will take you on as a student.

However, there are also some reasons that switching advisors should give you some pause:

• If your research and the skills you have developed in your current group are not directly transferrable to your new group, you will have to spend a lot of time getting up to speed in a new topic. 

• If you want to leave your current group without a commitment from another group/advisor, you may have to TA for an extra semester, which may be difficult for various reasons (TA positions can be limited, and first-year students are often prioritized---plus, TAing while trying to find a research advisor/do research is always a little tricky, especially if you are also taking classes yourself).

It is fairly common for students to change groups in their first two years of their PhD due to any of the reasons listed above. It is possible to switch in the middle of a semester if the situation is particularly bad, but most commonly you would finish up the semester/wrap up your specific project before changing groups. While still possible after your first two years, changing advisors late in your graduate career can be difficult, especially if you are switching fields/topics. Switching late will lead to a longer timeline and require some diplomacy with your previous advisor, as they will have invested a lot of time in training you. In the end, switching advisors can be incredibly beneficial for you if it helps rekindle some of the interest in physics you had coming into grad school. 

Really, the choice to change advisors is one of balancing these pros and cons. If you are a late-stage graduate student, while it may seem like a bit of a sunk-cost fallacy, changing advisors is typically frowned upon (without special extenuating circumstances), and it will often lead to a significant lengthening of your graduation timeline. On the other hand, changing advisors within the first year or even two of your PhD is completely normal. The key to a successful transition is good communication between you, your current advisor, your new advisor, and the department. 

One final "edge case" to consider is the situation where your advisor has taken a position at a new university. In that case, broadly speaking, you will have three options: follow your advisor to the new program, stay at UMD with a local formal advisor while continuing to complete your dissertation research remotely with your old advisor, or find a new advisor at UMD. This situation is a bit more complex and will, again, be highly dependent on your advisor and research topic (for example: it is much easier to keep your current advisor and finish your research remotely if you are a theory student and/or near the end of your Ph.D.). Again, the best practice is to communicate early and often with your advisor and the chair of graduate education to make sure that you understand the totality of your options and their consequences. 

General process and timeline:

1. About 4-6 weeks before the start of each semester, Josiland sends an email stating that the TA application for the coming semester is open. Fill that out and submit it to express your interest in TAing.

2. You'll get an email stating you're being offered a TAship. (You're not guaranteed an offer, depending on availability and funding.) The offer doesn't assign you to a course; it only offers you the job. There is a very short time frame in which to accept this offer. Accepting this offer is a commitment, and if your circumstances change (e.g. if you get an RA and no longer need the TA), there must be someone waiting to fill your spot or you must find someone to fill your spot.

3. Within a week of accepting your offer, you will be asked to fill out a schedule form indicating what conflicts you have, i.e. the times you would be unavailable for TAing. If you have no conflicts (e.g. you're a late-stage grad student with no classes), you don't need to fill out this form.

4. Around 1-2 weeks before the start of the semester, you'll receive an email notifying you what course you're TAing for.

5. Over the next week changes may be made depending on scheduling, so be sure to keep up to date with all emails you receive. If you find yourself in a new situation or with new conflicts, follow the instructions in the emails.

6. When you're told to do so, contact your course instructor.

Have fun TAing!

Note for later graduate students:

In some situations you may wish to work with a specific instructor on a specific course. The initial application has a space for you to request this assignment, but it is also wise to contact the instructor beforehand and ask them to request you as their TA, to be sure that the TA coordinator knows of this mutual arrangement. Usually it can be made to happen, but given the process above it can be a while before you are officially assigned.

Sometimes students find it useful to take some time away from their graduate studies for non-academic reasons, such as to do an internship, to address mental or physical health concerns, or to decide if grad school is really the right path. All of these, and more, are completely valid reasons to take a step back. It is possible to do this, though there are a few steps that one must take.

1. Once you have decided that you want to take time off, the first thing you need to do is discuss this with your advisor, if you have one. They will hopefully be relatively understanding of the situation and supportive, but it can definitely be a daunting task to bring this up. If you are having trouble communicating productively with your advisor, consider contacting one of the physics ombudspeople, Tom Cohen or Donna Hammer.

2. Once your advisor has agreed, you will need to begin filling out forms. There are two different paths depending on your graduate status.

   • If you have not yet achieved candidacy, you can apply for a Waiver of Continuous Registration. You do not have to provide any sort of formal justification here. 

   • If you are a candidate, then you will need to apply for a formal Leave of Absence. The main difference here is that you have to choose one of "justify" why you are requesting a leave. These five options are Childbearing/Adoption, Dependent Care, Financial Hardship, Physical/Mental Health Condition, Military Service

     • The choice for physical/mental health condition requires filling out an additional form.

3. Your advisor, the chair of graduate studies or program director, and a member of the graduate school (as well as ISSS representative for international students) will have to sign the form. Then you can file the form with the graduate school by emailing gradschool@umd.edu.

Ideally, you should try to fill out these forms before a semester begins, though it may be possible (but more difficult) to begin a leave of absence in the middle of a semester. More information can be found here, and the previously linked forms (along with many others) can be found here.

• One particularly relevant piece of information from the leave of absence website: “The Graduate School’s Academic Counselor, Ms. Simone Warrick Bell, works with all graduate students who elect to go on a leave of absence. Please contact Simone at slivings@umd.edu for more information.”

To change your UMD display name, you will have to update your Alternative Name in ARES. This will not affect your full legal name as reported to the Registrar and the university. Please follow the instructions below, and let us know if you have any difficulties or any further questions or concerns. Thank you! - UMD IT

1) Go to ares.umd.edu

2) Under "Quick Links," select "Change Email Address."

3) In the section "Demographic Info," update your "Alternative Name." In your case you will just fill out the first and last name, then leave the middle name blank.

4) Make sure to select "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page.

5) Please allow up to 24-48 hours for changes to reflect in the system.